1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a device for connecting connexion elements equipping the ends of electrical conductors, into connector housings, as well as to an automatic connexion machine comprising such devices.
The device according to the invention is more particularly intended for the plugging of male and/or female pins, which have previously been mounted, usually by crimping, onto the ends of the conductors of electrical cables, into the corresponding reception housings of connectors, which may have a circular, rectangular or other shape and in which the operation of plugging or of connexion of the pins usually takes place via their rear face.
2. Background Art
Furthermore, such a connexion device and the machine which is equipped therewith have a preferred application in the aeronautical field. Indeed, the vast number of electrical cables, intended to join up the various apparatuses and items of equipment of the aircraft, via specific connectors, in order to ensure that it functions correctly, involves many preliminary operations for connecting the pins, at the ends of the conductors of said cables, into corresponding housings of the specific connectors so as subsequently to make up cabling bundles or harnesses.
The connectors of each bundle, equipped with pins, are then engaged into complementary connectors provided on the items of equipment.
It goes without saying that the device and the connexion machine according to the invention could apply to other industrial fields, for example the automotive industry, wherever these involve many connexions between connexion elements and connectors.
At present, the operations of connexion of such connexion elements, such as male and female pins, into connector housings are carried out manually by means of ordinary insertion tools. For example, an operator installs one of the two pins, which have been previously crimped to the ends of the conductor of said electrical cable, into the axial passage of said insertion tool until the rib, which is provided on each pin, presses against the end face of the tool. The pin, held inside the tool, is then inserted into the corresponding housing of the connector in question, in such a way that the rib of the pin comes to bear against an internal shoulder in the housing while being, moreover, axially locked by the elastic tabs of a socket usually provided inside the housing.
The operator then removes the tool, now without the pin, and can proceed to install the other pin of the cable into the corresponding housing of another connector, with the same or a different tool.
It is therefore clear that a lengthy and tedious task must be undertaken in order to connect all the connexion elements into the corresponding housings of the specific connectors, in order to produce each cabling bundle. These connexion operations therefore require a large technical staff and considerable working time.
Furthermore, depending particularly on the intensity of the electrical currents and on the shape of the connectors and their housings, a plurality of connexion elements such as male or female pins, having different geometrical characteristics (shape, length, diameter, . . . ) are used, which involves the use of many specific insertion tools, each corresponding to a particular type of connexion element. Consequently, the risk of errors occurring, due to a wrong choice of pin, of insertion tool, of connector housing, or even of connector, is not negligible. Therefore, in order to prevent these possible errors which could have serious consequences, further checking operations are to be carried out in order to ensure that each pin equips the corresponding housing of the connector in question, and that the pins are properly connected and held inside the housings of said connectors.